RCSD Budget: Cutting ISS May Result In Even More Classroom Disruptions

Rochester City School District Superintendent, Bolgen Vargas, has proposed his $784 million budget for the 2014-2015 school year. The one thing that stuck out immediately in my mind was his proposal to cut In School Suspension for grades k-6 in schools with fewer than 700 kids.

Lately there has been much local discussion about the problem of too many distractions in RCSD's classrooms, making it hard for the kids who want to focus on learning to actually learn. Vargas' plan to eliminate ISS is only going to make it more difficult for teachers who are overwhelmed with bulging classrooms full of distractions and unfortunately magnify the problem that much more.

Vargas also stated his concerns about the district's shrinking enrollment, which then leads to shrinking available funds from the state. It's hard to understand how Vargas reconciles making classes more chaotic and learning less easy while also expecting families who are able to not flee the district for classrooms with less disruptions and chaos. I do understand that kids who are being sent to ISS are not able to get the academic instruction they need because the ISS rooms aren't staffed by certified classroom teachers, but keeping them in classrooms does neither them nor students who want to learn any good. This raises the question of if there will be additional support and backup for classroom teachers when problems arise or will this result in an increase of out of school suspensions, which will not be a great option in a district which already has a problem with truancy.

Next year's budget places an emphasis on expanded learning days at several new locations as well as mass re-haul of the city's pre-k program, expanding many locations from half to full day. Expanding the pre-k is about early intervention in hopes that children in poverty can be aided earlier, but it's going to cost the state and our city a ton of money when they can barely educate the children that are currently enrolled as it is. RCSD seems to be biting off more than they can chew in regards to pre-k and leaving bare bones for children in higher grades.

Creating a budget for a district that is in crisis is an almost impossible job, and Vargas has a mountain of issues in front of him. I'm disappointed there will obviously be more cuts to the budget and not many new ideas brought to the table on how we can pull our district out of peril. Right now is the time to create a drastic overhaul of the system, and 2014-2015 sounds like we are in for more of the same old problems that are already plaguing our schools.